First Impressions / Kuroko no Basuke

「オレのもんだ」 (Ore no Monda)
“This Is Mine”

After last week’s rather boring Winter Cup recap, this week’s episode manages to kick this new arc off to a great start.

Haizaki Shougo

If there’s one thing you can talk about besides the sport itself in a sports anime, it’s definitely the attitudes of each player and how it reflects in their play style. While this show is no stranger to showing us all types of extremes when it comes to personalities, watching Haizaki play feels completely different from everyone else we’ve seen up to this point. Sure there might have been some heated feelings when someone like Aomine or Himuro appeared on screen but all pales in comparison to Haizaki. His overall demeanor on or off the court is pretty much as vile as it gets. Choking girls with one hand and smacking his senpai with the other, it’s a little disgusting watching some of the things he does. But once you take all that into consideration, you have to give some props to the writers behind the scenes for concocting such a vile character. It takes something special to really make me dislike someone and it looks like they’re going all out for Haizaki. All I know for sure though, is that if there was a character that I believed couldn’t have a good side, it’d be him.

Kise vs Haizaki

With Kise being one of my friend’s number one favorite out of all the players in the show, you can bet she squealed with glee when she heard the anime was finally covering some of his backstory. At this point though it tough to guess what Kise could do to turn things around against the beastly Haizaki. The pair have practically the same technique with Haizaki’s edging out on top but if I want to believe that Kise has something ready to counter with.

Looking Forward

With the impenetrable plot armor sitting alongside Seirin safely in the bleachers, I’m starting to get really curious about which team is going to end up winning this game. If I had to make an educated guess though, I think I’d side with Kaijo taking a surprise victory since Kise’s been due for a power-up for quite some time now. That said, I’m not sure how he’ll be able to out copy Haizaki when he can literally do everything better (or I suppose more suited for him). Anyways, I’ll catch you guys around the bend next week when we’ll get to see some cool stuff followed by another cliffhanger :’)

 

Preview

71 Comments

    5. While Haizaki is a jerk, what kind of girlfriend leaves someone for losing in a basketball game? Like the hell, how can someone even be so petty. The girl wouldn’t of been worth Kise’s time anyway.

      chromenova
      Reply

  8. For me, it’s Haizaki > Kise. Here’s why.

    I hate copycat characters in general. I only find them acceptable if their implementation of an ability is unique. Haizaki steals them and makes them his own while Kise does an exact copy.

    Hitler-kun
    Reply

    1. Really? For me it’s the other way around. Making your own version of an ability is a lot easier because people have their own body rhythm, speed, etc. while copying every nuance of someone’s movements is a little more complicated.

      bOOtywarrior
      Reply

  12. I may be the only one but I love these a$$holes. It’s a nice opposition to the goody-goodyness of Kuroko and his team. Can’t wait to see Akashi play for this reason.

    Slaine the Master Shooter
    Reply

    2. Don’t fall for it guys. It’s an obvious bait. This person is trying to get a rise out of us and will probably continue to do so for the next 20+ episodes. Don’t waste your time & energy and just ignore it. 🙂

      esdesu
      Reply

  18. Damn if they’re already taking this long for this short match in the manga I can’t even imagine how many episodes the final match will take. They will probably start a whole new season just for this match if they continue with this pace.

    Heike
    Reply

    1. Dude, you new to the anime community or something? There are fujoshis for every anime including Durarara, Tokyo Ghoul, Fate series, Aldnoah Zero, etc. It’s just a part of the fandom that can be ignored. You need to pull the stick out of your as.s and get over it already.

      Yuri
      Reply

    2. Yuri is right. Many anime shows attract fujoshis, but you shouldn’t let that ruin your anime experience. If you don’t like the fujoshi cult, avoid it like the plague. There are many reasons to like this show as well as not.

      WarriorsHeart
      Reply

  24. Loved how they animated Kasamatsu’s drive. Some thoughts:

    If looking at your own move with its rhythm subtly changed screws up your own rhythm, would looking at Kise repeating the move with an unaltered rhythm help restore it?

    Also, he was able to imitate Aomine last season so I wonder if he’ll bust out some other GoM moves too. Maybe Midorima’s shot? Hmm, that’s all I can think of. He probably can’t copy Murasakibara due to the height difference.

    Twinkle
    Reply

  25. …did he seriously just NTR Kise’s girlfriend(Kise’s better off without her)? Wow. At this point, Haizaki is a caricature. They should have given him a mustache, so he could twirl it.

    Someone really needs to punch Haizaki in the face.

    Mormegil
    Reply

  27. THIS should have been the FIRST episode! xD Action is what KuroBasu is made of! I liked Haizuki’s hair when he was in middle school. He looked cool, despite his bada## attitude and all. xDD
    I feel bad though; Akashi is there, but voiceless – he only nodded. *disappointed*

    Konata Kamijou
    Reply

    1. “I feel bad though; Akashi is there, but voiceless – he only nodded. *disappointed*”

      I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the voice actor was busy since he is in demand these days.

      WarriorsHeart
      Reply

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